Posts tagged Pasta

Bondi Pizza, Macquarie

Review April 22, 2016

It doesn’t take an Italian to know good pizza. Case study 1: the pizza expert in my life is Simon, who just so happens to be Korean. And with all his experiments in dough fermentation and the best tomato sauce base, you can bet that Simon really knows his Magheritas from his Neapolitanas.

So I guess you could say that eating pizza with Simon at a chain restaurant like Bondi Pizza is…interesting, to say the least.

The Order:

Sicilian pizza, $13.95
Traditional Italian pepperoni, chorizo, Wagyu meatballs, Spanish onion, pancetta (bacon), kalamata olives, bocconcini & rocket with a drizzle of chilli oil. (NB: Meatballs contain 50% Wagyu beef & pork)

Magherita Pizza, $10.95
Roma tomato, Italian buffalo mozzarella, shaved parmesan & basil.

Magherita Pizza

Garlic and cheese pizza, $10.45
With added balsamic onions

Bondi Wagyu Beef Burger, $16.95
Delicious wagyu & beef pattie served on a toasted bun with cos lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles & our own unique blend of special sauces. Served with fries. Added cheese and pancetta.

Chilli Prawn Linguini, $24.95
Chilli prawns tossed through linguini, wild rocket, chilli, parsley in light olive oil & freshly squeezed lemon juice

Dessert Share Plate, $22.95
A sample plate of our four best selling desserts… Oven-baked Apple Crumble Pizzette, Chocolate Brownie Swirls, Belgian Chocolate Fruit Fondue & Triple Chocolate Brownie served with warm melted Belgian chocolate & vanilla ice cream.

The Food:

Of the titular (tee hee! That word always makes me laugh) pizzas, we decided to get the Sicilian, $13.95, from their signature range, the Magherita, $10.95, from their classic range, and the Garlic and cheese pizza with added balsamic onion, $10.45, just to round things out.

Garlic and cheese pizza, $10.45

The Garlic Cheese Pizza wasn’t particularly popular at the table, but there was something about its similarity to a cheesy garlic bread that I quite liked. Sure, it wasn’t amazing in a pizza sense, but the base wasn’t dry, and I quite liked the sweetness that the balsamic onions brought to it. Not quite sure about when you’d order it, though – the garlic isn’t strong enough for when you have an anti-vampire hankering, and the bread isn’t, well, bready enough if you’re in the mood for bread.

Sicilian pizza, $13.95

Thin base aside, the Sicilian fared much better, with its wide range of toppings. Not sure what that says about the pizza, per se, but it was definitely the best one of the lot. How can you go wrong with the salty hit of olives and cured meats?

The Bondi Burger and the Chilli Prawn Linguini were next – there was much debate at the table about whether the non-pizza dishes at a pizza restaurant would be any good, but hey, if they have it on the menu, I think I should give it a go.

The burger was rather unremarkable, especially given Sydney’s current burger-scape, I mean, with burgers like these:

A photo posted by Tammi Kwok (@teafortammi) on Apr 14, 2016 at 11:03pm PDT

I’m not sure that a burger like this would be up to par:

Bondi Wagyu Beef Burger, $16.95

It wasn’t horrible, but just not quite good enough in the kick-ass flavour, cheese porn, buttery bread, let’s-eat-till-we-drop-and-come-back-for-more department.

The Chilli Prawn Linguini fared slightly better, with the pasta being suitably al dente, and the prawns neither overcooked or stale.

Chilli Prawn Linguini, $24.95

The only thing for me, was that all I could really taste was a peppery heat from the chilli. No zesty lemon, no floral chilli notes, no fresh herbacious goodness..Just a pleasant amount of salt and heat.

By this time, I wasn’t sure what the dessert was going to be like, but with the variety that a Dessert Share Plate, $22.95, would give you, it should be pretty hard to go far wrong.

Chocolate Brownie

Chocolate Swirls

The Chocolate Brownie Swirls were very pleasantly surprising: soft bread, rich chocolate…pretty much as advertised, with the added bonus of that warm chocolate fuzzy feeling that I get. You should try it. It’s like being hugged from the inside. The Apple Crumble Pizzette, though, seemed a little…uh, burnt. Not sure that the crumble concept works in a blazing hot-as-hell oven, but the warm scrolls did balance it out for me.

C+. Okay, not great.

Food: 0.5/1

The Service:

The service was actually REALLY GOOD, especially for casual dining restaurant. I know, I know, you might be saying “oh but they knew you were going to review the place!”. Well, there was a mixup, and it turns out that they didn’t realise that we were reviewers till the end when we cleared up what was going on, so double points!

We were really well looked after, and it was fairly easy to get their attention when we needed something. They were very aware of where and when to set things down when it looked like we were in the middle of digging into a plate, or clearing things to make more room, or even simply to greet us with a smile when I looked up and caught their eye. Very pleasant and friendly, and chirpy (like a Snow White’s squirrel friends), to boot.

The only thing that would push the service to the nth degree? Personal recommendations and food knowledge. The best service I’ve gotten are from service staff who are foodies themselves, and love sharing that love and passion. And while they’re very warm and welcoming here, there just wasn’t a sense of kindred foodie-love between us.

Although, I do think that this same accomodating service is type that would make Bondi Pizza a fantastic option for families or large groups that require a little more assistance.

Service: 0.5/1

Value for money:

If you’re talking about pure dollar-for-dollar value, there are quite a few pizza joints out there that offer up similar pricing for better quality (and more authentic) dishes. Not horrifyingly expensive that I’d run for the hills if someone in my group suggested coming here, but not where I’d choose to go if I was feeling a touch broke at the end of the month but really wanted to eat some pizza.

Value for money: 0/1

The Vibe:

The decor was nice, in the same way a mum would say, “hey let’s go out to a nice restaurant together tonight”. It was clean, inviting, pleasant…no dim lights and snooty wine lists here. But on that same note, there wasn’t a clear identity (have I mentioned that I’m partial to a good theme?), which would have pushed it from restaurant, to total experience.

Vibe: 0.5/1

And finally,

Look, Bondi Pizza isn’t trying to pass themselves off as artisan/gourmet, and we aren’t under any illusions either. But when the menu is so large, it gets even harder to hit all the right notes, and that may be where it fails diehard foodies like us. We have eaten at enough specialised pizza places to know that if you were an absolute pizza fiend, this might not be the place to go.

However, if you had to cater for children, or non-foodies, this would be a very accessible starting point. Nothing was bad, and there were option a gluten free, vegetarian, etc – so you could customise your food as your dietary requirements needed.

Bonus points: 0/1

Love your pizza? Me too! Why not try 400 Gradi Cinchetti in Brunswick, or take on a Lebanese twist with Just Man’oushe in Sydney’s CBD? So much yum.

Insatiable Munchies dined as guests of Bondi Pizza.

Bondi Pizza
Macquarie Shopping Centre
Corner of Herring and Waterloo Roads Macquarie Park, NSW 2113
Phone: (02) 9889 5852
Website: http://www.bondipizza.com.au

Vessel Italian & Bar, Sydney

Review December 2, 2015

Vessel Italian and Bar, Sydney. Sydney Food Blog Review

You know that saying, “never go to bed angry”? Well you should also never go to bed hungry. It’s a thing. And it was exactly what we were, um, trying to prevent when we rocked up at Vessel Italian & Bar, and ordered two pizzas, a pasta, an entree and a salad.

Because salads are healthy, right?

Also, we had a $100 voucher from Zomato to spend, and I have an appetite like an Asian. Win-win!

From left: Nomad’s hot chorizo, red pepper and rosemary ($19.50), and the Garlic Pizza ($8.50)

For the pizzas, we ordered the Nomad’s hot chorizo, red pepper and rosemary ($19.50), and the Garlic Pizza ($8.50). Because we really like garlic bread.

So classy, I know. ?

Anyway, maybe because I’ve been so spoilt lately by thick, chewy, bready crusts, I’m finding that the thin crispy ones aren’t really doing it for me anymore. Nothing wrong with them, but just not satisfying.

The topping on the Nomad’s hot chorizo, though, was pretty good – the chorizo was cooked to a satisfying crispness on the top, while retaining tender chunks of flesh in the middle. Could’ve done with a stronger tomato flavour in the base, but it was just because there was so much cheese, and I could never complain about too much cheese.

NEVER, Y’HEAR??

Seared scallops, Jerusalem artichoke puree, pork crackling, green apple salsa ($24).

The Seared scallops, Jerusalem artichoke puree, pork crackling, green apple salsa ($24), brought up a bit of a “ooooh, fancy!” reaction in me, probably because I do love a good slate plate.

Isn’t it just so pretty?

A photo posted by Tammi Kwok (@teafortammi) on Nov 23, 2015 at 2:31am PST

The scallops were nicely seared without being overdone, the Jerusalem artichoke purée was silky and luscious, and the green apple salsa brought a lovely touch of freshness. The pork crackling though? Um. It wasn’t the best. *hides*

Never have I thought that I’d ever complain about pork crackling, but there it is. It was broken up to fairly small pieces, and gave me that feeling of…of…

You know when you eat shellfish and you can bits of shell stuck in the back of your mouth? Yeah. Like that.

Spaghetti aglio olio, with baby squid and pangritatta ($22)

The Spaghetti aglio olio, with baby squid and pangritatta ($22) didn’t fare too well, either. I love, LOVE aglio e olio – which usually is a light pasta dish of garlic, olive oil, and sometimes red chilli – but it’s the simplest dishes that are sometimes the hardest to get right. This particular one was a bit lacking in flavour for me – salt, garlic…oil. And considering the name of the dish translates to “garlic” and “oil”, it’s not a great sign.

The squid was cooked very nicely though – tender and juicy and not rubbery – so points for that.

Caprese, with heirloom tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil and olive oil ($14)

Much better was the Caprese, with heirloom tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil and olive oil ($14). It’s really REALLY hard to mess up a caprese, assuming tomatoes are in season (which they are), and this provided a lovely freshness that balanced out the whole meal.

Kinda distracted me from the fact that I was eating a whole ton of cheese.

Mmm cheese.

The service also had its ups and downs – the lady who seated us was very friendly, but after that, it was pretty hard to get anyone’s attention, even though the restaurant was not even half filled when we went. When we did get a hold of someone though, they were pretty accommodating in our requests for salt and chilli, and our bottle of water got topped up without asking.

I’m not sure if there’s anything I would particularly make the trip back for – it was a bit on the average side for me – but I don’t think I would kick up a fuss if I had friends who wanted to come here for a group outing.

Not great, but could be worse.

Insatiable Munchies dined as guests of Zomato.

Vessel Italian and Bar
1 Shelley St
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Phone: +61 2 92955070
Website: http://vesselsydney.com.au

The Honest Kitchen, Eastwood

Review September 8, 2014 3 Comments

Home style lean patty, bulgolgi sauce, milky mayo and pickles on a brioche bun

Eastwood is known to be quite an Asian neighbourhood, which is why I was quite surprised to find that a little Italian eatery had opened up in the basement of the Aldi building. Italian? In Eastwood? Now this, I’ve gotta see.
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What I ate: Cheat’s Chilli Crab Pasta

what i ate March 12, 2014 4 Comments

A cheat's way to enjoy Singapore Chilli Crab without all of the work!

Whenever I mention that I’m from Singapore, the first thing I get asked is, “Do you make Singapore Chilli Crab?” Well, the answer is that I don’t yet, but in the meantime, I totally have a cheat’s method of enjoying all the shiok-ness of Singapore chilli crab without all of that work!

What I ate: Shredded lamb pasta

what i ate June 23, 2013 4 Comments

So I had a satisfying roasted lamb over the weekend, but seeing as how I roasted a whole 2+kg lamb shoulder, I was bound to have leftovers. Well, waste not want not, and I think this is a fantastic way to use up those bits of lamb left in your fridge.

For space, I shredded the lamb after the roast had cooled and store it away in an airtight container in the fridge. So for a quick lunch (or weeknight dinner) I just took that pasta and added it to:

Cooked pasta (just boil it to just under al dente)
Sliced black olives
Semi dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
Feta
Lemon juice

It was just a matter of warming the lamb in a pat of butter, adding the hot, freshly cooked pasta over the top, then throwing in the tomatoes and olives to warm through, and then top with feta. A squeeze of lemon juice over the top, and off you go.

Feel free to add any other bits and pieces you have in your fridge – I just needed some acidity to cut through the lamb, so I think that other types of antipasto will do: roasted capsicum, charred eggplant, marinated feta…the list goes on.

What are your favourite ways to use up meat leftover from a roast?

What I ate: Squid ink pasta and crabmeat aglio e olio

what i ate June 10, 2013 5 Comments

Sometimes, you just want a light lunch. Sometimes it’s nice to pretend that it’s still spring and immerse yourself in punchy fresh flavours that make you forget that you had to drag yourself out of the warm cocoon that is your bed to face the day.

As much as I love long stews and slow cooking during the cold dreary days of winter, sometimes I feel like it doesn’t even feel like winter yet. Not that I’m complaining, but sometimes I feel a little weirded out when I see the sun out, and can walk to the shops in my t-shirt and shorts. But the upside is that the sun just calls for light meals and a cold glass of crisp white wine.

And that’s where this recipe came in. I had some squid ink pasta that had to get used, and my pantry is always stocked with chilli and garlic. In this case, I used tinned alaskan crab meat, but crab meat is available in tubs at the supermarket, or feel free to use bacon or pancetta if you’d like. I know it’s not an Aglio e olio in the strictest sense, but it’s time to clear out my cupboards and it’s extremely tasty and so simple.

Here’s what I used:

Squid ink pasta
Garlic (1 clove per entree size portion, and I love my garlic.)
Bird’s eye chilli (1 chilli per clove of garlic, but feel free to use more)
Extra virgin olive oil (a nice fruity one)
Fish stock
1 tin alaskan crab meat
Coriander
Yuzu juice

I par boiled the pasta first in salted boiling water, then finished it in a little bit of fish stock.

TENTACLES OF THE SEA!!!!

I find that finishing the last 2 minutes or so in fish stock gives it just a little bit more flavour, but you can just finish boiling the pasta in salted boiling water. Just remember that because you’re cooking it a bit further with the garlic and chilli, haven the pasta slightly underdone, so that by the time the garlic is cooked, your pasta is perfectly al dente.

While the pasta is boiling, I smashed the garlic and chilli through a mortar and pestle with some cracked black pepper and salt.

I moved the pasta from the pot into my sauté pan with a splash of fish stock, and simmered it till the stock is completely absorbed. Half a cup was all I had to use for 2 entree sized portions, but add a splash more if it isn’t enough. Then simply add the garlic paste and olive oil to the pasta, gently sauté it till the garlic loses the acrid burn, then stir through the crab meat, yuzu juice and a smidgen more oil. Scatter with some coriander to finish,

Curiously addictive and easy, this makes for a light lunch, or a simple weeknight dinner. Don’t like crab? Well it works with all sorts of meats, herbs (use parsley if you don’t like coriander), and because it’s so basic, it’s open to your wildest imaginations.